บท 142: Squib.
Hermione stood up and walked towards the door, waiting for Draco.
"You do hav' the right equipment for it right?" Hagrid asked, "It's really dangerous, to tryna control them... I am barely able to keep them under control meself."
"I do have the things ready and I am sure they have some sort of problems otherwise they wouldn't act out like they are doing." Draco said, "I am used to handling tough situations like this, so you don't have to worry about it."
"You need my help?" Hagrid asked, "It's goin' to be troublesome."
"I think I can handle it." Draco said walking out of Hagrid's hut, "See you later, Hagrid."
"See yah, be careful around them."
"See you, Hagrid."
------------------------------------------------------------------------
"So are you going to explain?" Hermione asked Draco, as they were heading out towards the well.
"Well, help me with the catching the kelpies first." Draco said, "Trust me, seeing is better than me telling you the whole thing."
Hermione nodded. The Kelpie well was a bit far from Hagrid's house but wasn't too near the dark forest as well. Both of them reached there pretty quickly. Draco looked around and placed his suitcase on the ground.
Draco opened the suitcase and from within pulled out a small bag. Hermione was surprised seeing Draco put his whole hand down the suitcase, she wanted to say something but didn't as she quietly muttered about the suitcase being a magical one infused with an expandable charm.
Draco pulled out three potions from the bag as he walked near the well. He took one of the dark potions and spilled it all in the well. Hermione came over and looked over to see the whole well brightly lit up in a green tint as the light slowly dimmed away.
"As I suspected." Draco murmured.
"Why? What's wrong?"
"Someone had dropped a batch of potions in the well. I don't know what kind but looking at it, there's no way to figure it out." Draco said, "It's probably been going on for a while."
"Who would do that?" Hermione asked.
"I don't know." Draco shrugged, "The teachers wouldn't do it, so we have no one to blame but the students, someone must be practicing potions and since they couldn't get a hang of it, they threw away the useless batch of potions in the well."
"Why not just throw it normally?" Hermione said, "Why go through all this trouble? Just a wave of the wand and the problem could be solved. I think someone did it on purpose..."
"Unless... the person doesn't know magic." Draco said cutting off Hermione.
"Who doesn't know magic in Hogwarts?" Hermione asked looking at Draco weirdly.
"I know only one... Filch."
"That finally makes sense." Hermione said opening her mouth in a bit of a surprise, "No wonder, I never saw him use magic. But why would anyone allow a muggle in Hogwarts?"
"He's a Squib, not a muggle." Draco said, "They are born into a wizarding family but haven't got any magic powers. Kind of the opposite of Muggle-born wizards, but Squibs are quite unusual and rare."
He looked at Hermione seriously, "It's best not to mention it to anyone as it's a huge insult to them and Filch would probably get you in trouble for it if he hears you mentioning that word. Now you know, why he's always that grumpy among us who know how to do magic."
Hermione who was still not that used to all the wizarding politics nodded, keeping it in her mind. "But if that's the case, why would he be doing potions?"
"That's something only he knows," Draco said taking the other two potions and mixing them together, the potion turned light blue. Draco took out his wand and tapped on it with a spell turning the color of the potion to clear liquid. Satisfyingly nodding, he dumped the potion into the well. As he sat down resting against the wall.
"We have to leave it for at least half an hour."
"Was it a purifying potion?" Hermione asked sitting down as well, "I had been planning on trying it but the ingredients are too expensive to buy."
"If you want, I can lend you some."
"Lend?"
"Pretty sure you wouldn't take it if I give it to you." Draco said shrugging, "So just consider it as lending."
"I'll think about it." Hermione said standing up, "Stay right here, I'll be back in a while."
Draco nodded as Hermione went towards the castle and came back with a book in her hand a while later.
"What's that?" Draco asked.
"Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them." Hermione said as she sat back down and opened the book towards the page describing Kelpies, "Draco are you sure you want to do this? It says here that Kelpies are a shapeshifting water demon. Able to take any form, a Kelpie usually chooses that of a horse with a bulrush mane. After luring unwary travelers onto their backs, they drag them underwater and eat them, allowing the entrails to float to the surface of the water. I mean its too dangerous, why even go through this trouble?"
"I still want to and I've my reasons." Draco said looking unfazed, "Besides I already know what kelpies are capable of."
Hermione stared at Draco for a while, knowing what she says wouldn't matter she sighed and continued, "It says here, that a Kelpie can be rendered docile and harmless by using a Placement Charm to put a bridle over the creature's head. Do you have one?"
"I do." Draco said taking out a bridle from the suitcase. The bridle was actually prepared for Starlight but it was too big for her, but Draco decided to keep it in case it comes in use again.
"You know how to use a placement charm, right?"
Draco took out his wand and waved it around chanting a spell, causing the bridle to magically disappear from Draco's hand to appear on top of the book Hermione was holding.
Hermione nodded and placed the bridle on the ground and continued to read until something hit her and she looked at the wand in Draco's hand.
"Whose wand is it?"
"Mine." Draco said waving it around, "It looks unique, right?"
"Yeah! It's really cool." Hermione said sarcastically as she glared at him, "You know what I am asking you, right?"
"It's a replacement." Draco said, "I needed something for me after my old wand was taken away. It's a secret so don't tell anyone."
"I am glad." Hermione said looking back at the book, "Since you keep getting in troubles, it's really worrying if you don't have a wand with you. With it, I can at least trust you enough, that you would keep yourself safe."
Draco smiled looking at Hermione, "Since you worry so much about me, don't blame me if I fall in love with you."
"Lov..." Hermione suddenly blushed as she turned to look at Draco who was staring deeply at her. Hermione was speechless and Draco kept staring at her. Both of them kept silent looking into each other's eyes until the peaceful moment was ruined by Draco's clock making them both flustered again. Draco cursing his luck took out the clock and stopped the alarm, as he stood up and looked into the well.
The potion had its effect and the water was crystal clear now. Draco at the corner of his eyes saw something swim by. Draco smirked as he knew that it was a kelpie and it probably already got the sense of having someone around.
Draco took off his robe but kept his pants on because Hermione looked way too uncomfortable with it. As she wasn't able to even look at him.
"Hermione, so this is what I want you to do."
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